n  j  y~\  £. 


A  VISIT  TO  OUR  AFRICA 
MISSION*  . 

By  Stephen  J.  Corey. 


THE  OREGON  INDISPENSABLE. 

During  the  whole  of  my  eight  weeks’  visit  to  the 
Congo  work  the  steamer  Oregon  was  always  head¬ 
quarters,  and,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  nights  at 
Bolenge  and  a  few  more  during  itinerates  in  the 
forest,  the  close  of  each  busy  day  found  me  seeking 
my  night’s  rest  on  board  this  effective  little  battle¬ 
ship  of  the  King.  All  told,  I  traveled  about  2,200 
miles  on  the  Oregon.  There  are  four  comfortable 
cabins  on  the  steamer,  and  during  all  these  weeks 
mine  was  the  one  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  Dr. 
Harry  Biddle  and  furnished  by  his  wife  and  brothers. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  sacred  memory 
of  this  consecrated  pioneer,  who  gave  his  life  for  the 
Congo,  was  a  constant  source  of  inspiration  to  me. 
His  life  and  service  were  brief,  and  he  did  not  even 
have  the  opportunity  of  seeing  Bolenge,  after  its 
purchase;  nevertheless  his  sacrifice  for  the  Congo 


■^This  visit  was  made  during  the  summer  of  1912. 


that  he  loved  was  not  in  vain.  Only  God  can  meas¬ 
ure  what  it  has  meant  to  the  work. 

A  mission  steamer  is  indispensable  to  our  Congo 
work.  To  conduct  our  present  work  without  it 
would  be  like  evangelizing  the  Mississippi  Valley 
with  only  canoes  on  the  rivers  and  forest  paths  over¬ 
land  as  avenues  of  communication,  with  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  transporting  most  of  the  living  supplies  and 
much  of  the  material  for  buildings  from  St.  Louis 
as  a  base.  Each  of  the  other  missions  on  the  Upper 
Congo  have  their  steamers:  the  Presbyterians,  the 
American  Baptists,  the  Congo  Bololo  Mission;  and 
the  English  Baptists  have  two.  The  Catholics  have 
a  number  of  steamers. 

THE  STEAMER  A  RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTION. 

The  Oregon  is  a  religious  institution.  You  are 
awakened  at  five  in  the  morning  by  the  bell  which 
calls  the  crew  to  morning  worship.  A  few  minutes 
afterward  the  steamer  resounds  with  a  hymn  sung 
in  the  Lunkundo  tongue,  and  then  follows  prayer 
by  the  captain  or  one  of  the  crew.  With  the  ex¬ 
ception  of  the  captain,  who  is  a  missionary,  the 
steamer  men  are  all  natives.  There  are  three  wheel¬ 
men  (the  strain  is  heavy  on  these  men,  and  they 
must  work  by  relay),  two  engineers,  two  firemen,  four 
anchormen,  one  watchman,  and  about  fifteen  work¬ 
men  to  cut  wood  and  load  it,  besides  loading  cargo 
and  helping  push  the  steamer  off  sandbanks,  if  she 
is  so  unfortunate  as  to  strike  them.  Then  there  is 


the  cook  and  table  boy,  making  a  force,  all  told,  of 
about  thirty  men.  This  is  quite  a  company,  but  for¬ 
tunately  American  wages  are  not  required  by  Congo 
native  workmen.  The  wheelmen  and  engineers  re¬ 
ceive  from  $75  to  $125  each  per  year,  as  they  are 
skilled  men,  while  the  rest  of  the  crew  average  about 
$25  per  year.  All  the  native  men  furnish  their  own 
food.  The  headmen  and  nearly  all  of  the  crew  are 
Christians.  The  unconverted  ones  are  usually  soon 
led  to  accept  Christ  by  their  zealous  companions. 

GREAT  WELCOME  AT  BOLENGE. 

The  Oregon  met  me  at  Stanley  Pool,  250  miles 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Congo,  and  it  took  us  eight 
days  to  make  the  500  miles  up  river  to  Bolenge.  We 
reached  Bolenge  about  ten  in  the  morning  of  July 
5th,  and  a  great  welcome  awaited  us.  Fully  one 
thousand  people  were  gathered  on  the  slope  of  the 
high  beach*  and  as  we  drew  near  we  could  hear  them 
singing  as  with  one  voice,  “Bringing  in  the  Sheaves.” 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hensey  and  Miss  Eck  were  in  the 
midst  of  the  people  waiting  to  welcome  us. 

BEAUTIFUL  AND  BUSY  BOLENGE. 

Mrs.  Dye  fitly  described  Bolenge  in  her  book  by 
that  title  when  she  called  it  “Busy  and  Beautiful 
Bolenge.”  It  is  certainly  both.  The  prettiest  spot 
on  all  the  Congo,  as  far  as  I  saw  it,  is  this,  our  first 

3 


station.  Green  grass  everywhere,  and  the  whole  sta¬ 
tion  set  in  a  bower  of  palms,  mangoes,  and  orange 
trees.  Neatly  outlined  little  streets  run  through  the 
station  grounds.  These  are  kept  nicely  swept  each 
day  by  the  schoolboys.  These  same  boys  also  keep 
the  grass  well  cut. 

At  Bolenge  we  have  three  missionary  family 
homes,  a  single  woman’s  home,  a  dispensary,  a  print¬ 
ing  office,  a  store  building,  and  the  large  new  church 
to  be  used  partly  for  the  Bible  College.  It  is  a  well- 
equipped  station  and  only  needs  a  good  hospital  and 
dormitories  for  the  Bible  College  to  make  it  com¬ 
plete.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hensey  and  Miss  Eck  were  try¬ 
ing  nobly  to  look  after  all  the  work  of  the  station. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  R.  Moon,  who  were  home  on  fur¬ 
lough  in  1912,  have  since  returned  to  Bolenge,  and 
with  them  Miss  Apperson.  We  should  have  a  phy¬ 
sician  at  Bolenge,  and  one  man  should  devote  his 
whole  time  to  the  Bible  College.  Thus  two  more 
families  are  needed  most  urgently.  It  has  not  been 
possible  to  complete  the  Bible  College  because  of 
the  fact  that  there  has  been  no  one  to  take  charge 
of  this  work. 

THE  STATION  AT  HIGH  TIDE. 

I  remained  about  a  week  at  Bolenge,  and  the  ex¬ 
periences  of  those  busy,  happy  days  will  never  be 
forgotten.  It  was  the  time  of  the  quarterly  incom¬ 
ing  of  evangelists,  visiting  Christians  from  a  dis¬ 
tance,  and  candidates  for  baptism.  Bolenge  has 

4 


about  seventy-five  evangelists  of  her  own,  who 
preach  in  villages  covering  the  larger  Bolenge  dis¬ 
trict.  These  men  brought  with  them  groups  of 
Christians  and  inquirers.  There  were  present  be¬ 
tween  seven  and  eight  hundred  of  these  visitors.  On 
Sunday  two  hundred  and  nine  were  baptized  in  the 
Congo.  There  were  one  thousand,  two  hundred  and 
forty-seven  at  Sunday-school,  and  over  one  thousand 
at  communion.  A  great  Endeavor  service  was  held 
on  Friday  night,  with  eight  hundred  members  in  at¬ 
tendance.  Many  of  these  people  had  come  a  distance 
of  from  three  to  five  days  through  the  forest.  The 
thank-offering  in  our  money  amounted  to  nearly 
$100.  It  would  be  hard  to  compute  the  real  value 
of  such  an  offering  to  these  people.  It  is  doubtful 
if  the  average  income  of  all  the  people  contributing 
would  amount  to  more  than  twenty-five  cents  a  week. 
Of  course,  this  was  Bolenge  at  high  tide.  The  local 
membership  of  the  church  is  about  three  hundred, 
and  the  Sunday-school  about  the  same.  As  yet  it 
seems  wise  to  keep  the  membership  of  the  little 
groups  of  disciples  in  the  distant  villages  of  Bolenge 
District  with  the  Bolenge  congregation.  The  mis¬ 
sionaries  show  rare  skill  in  the  management  of  this 
large  district.  It  would  be  impossible  for  them  to 
bear  the  burden  if  it  were  not  for  the  great  help  of 
a  fine  church  board  of  officers  at  Bolenge  and  a  group 
of  strong  evangelists  in  the  field. 

From  Bolenge  the  Oregon  took  us  up  the  Busira 
River  to  Longa,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Momboyo. 

5 


LONGA,  A  STATION  CUT  FROM  THE 

JUNGLE. 

At  Longa  another  hearty  welcome  awaited  us, 
from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Eldred  and  the  Longa  church. 
This  is  a  new  station,  but  good  progress  has  been 
made,  both  in  the  church  membership  and  the  sta¬ 
tion  equipment.  Mr.  Eldred  has  a  unique  feature 
in  the  work  at  Longa  in  the  way  of  a  school  for  the 
study  of  the  French  language.  This  is  very  impor¬ 
tant,  as  French  is  the  official  language  of  the  Congo, 
used  by  State  officers  and  traders  alike.  The  con¬ 
gregation  was  lined  up  on  the  beach  to  meet  us, 
singing  a  gospel  hymn;  and  as  the  steamer  swung  in 
they  gave  us  the  military  salute,  and  then  a  long 
salutation  in  French  in  perfect  unison.  Here  again 
was  the  hearty  handshaking  and  the  enthusiastic 
welcome. 

Much  must  be  done  from  a  physical  standpoint 
to  develop  a  mission  station  in  the  heart  of  Africa. 
A  few  brief  years  ago  the  spot  where  Longa  Station 
now  stands  was  a  dense  forest  jungle.  To  fully  ap¬ 
preciate  what  that  means,  one  has  but  to  attempt  to 
penetrate  one  but  a  few  yards.  The  growth  is  well- 
nigh  impenetrable. 

In  planting  a  station,  all  of  this  must  be  cleared, 
and  then  the  ground  laid  out  in  careful  order.  Longa 
is  now  a  beautiful  spot,  as  pretty  as  Bolenge  in  many 
respects,  although  it  lacks  as  yet  the  stately  and 
matured  beauty  of  the  older  station,  where  palms, 

6 


mangoes,  and  other  trees  have  been  growing  for 
many  years.  We  must  remember  that  Bolenge  was 
laid  out  and  planted  by  another  mission  more  than 
twenty  years  ago.  Through  the  untiring  work  of 
Ray  Eldred  and  Dr.  Jaggard  two  brick  houses  have 
been  erected  at  Longa,  besides  a  brick  store  and 
medicine  house.  For  these  the  bricks  were  all 
burned  on  the  station,  and  there  are  sufficient  of 
these  now  on  hand  to  go  far  towards  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  a  hospital.  A  good  mud-wall,  thatched-roof 
church  has  also  been  constructed,  which  serves  as 
well  for  the  day  school.  These  are  the  incidental 
things  already  accomplished,  aside  from  the  regular 
missionary  work.  Longa  is  a  very  important  station. 
It  is  on  the  great  Busira,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Momboyo.  Up  this  last  river  seventy-five  miles  is 
Lotumbe;  up  the  Busira  something  more  than  one 
hundred  miles  is  Monieka;  seventy-five  miles  down¬ 
stream  on  the  Congo,  below  the  Busira’s  mouth,  is 
Bolenge.  So  you  see  Longa  is  the  hub  in  our  wheel. 
It  is  a  difficult  field,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  Cath¬ 
olics  are  quite  strong  and  oppose  our  work  bitterly, 
and  also  because  the  church  at  Longa  has  never  been 
able  to  get  much  of  a  constituency  from  the  native 
village  of  Longa  itself.  But  in  the  back  country 
there  is  a  strong  work,  and  Brother  Eldred  has  re¬ 
cently  opened  up  a  very  promising  out-station  work 
up  the  Bolingo  River,  sixty  miles  to  the  north.  The 
great  need  at  Longa  is  more  missionaries.  (Since 
writing  this  Mrs.  Eldred  has  gone  home  to  her  re- 

7 


ward,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  A.  Johnston  have  gone  to 
Longa.) 

We  had  a  most  refreshing  visit  at  Longa.  Six¬ 
teen  were  baptized  on  Sunday,  and  others  are  await¬ 
ing  baptism  up  the  Bolingo  River.  The  church  was 
well  filled  with  a  reverent  congregation  at  all  the 
services.  An  excellent  day  school  is  being  con¬ 
ducted  in  Lunkundo  besides  the  school  in  French 
mentioned  above.  Mr.  Eldred  is  conducting  much 
industrial  work.  He  did  much  pioneer  work  at  Bo- 
lenge  and  in  that  district  before  going  to  Longa. 

From  Longa  the  steamer  took  us  up  the  Mom- 
boyo  River  to  Lotumbe. 

A  LARGE  CHURCH  AFTER  TWO  YEARS. 

Two  years  ago  the  Lotumbe  site  was  granted  to  us 
by  the  government.  Less  than  two  years  ago  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Smith,  who  had  been  on  the  Congo  but  a 
few  months,  went  alone  to  take  charge  of  the  work. 
The  church  now  has  over  four  hundred  members. 
We  baptized  sixty-seven  on  the  Sunday  spent  at 
Lotumbe,  then  seventeen  more  the  following  Sunday 
up  the  high  Momboyo,  and  Brothers  Smith,  Hob- 
good,  and  Holder  baptized  forty-four  more  up  the 
Lokolo  River  a  week  later.  All  of  these  in  the  Lo- 
Uimbe  field,  making  124  baptisms  for  that  church 
during  my  stay.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith  and-  a  large 
crowd  met  the  steamer  at  the  beach.  Again  our 
hands  and  arms  were  made  lame  by  the  enthusiastic 
handshaking.  There  are  one  hundred  boys  in  the 

8 


Lotumbe  day  school.  These  were  lined  up  on  each 
side  of  the  path,  and  after  we  had  all  marched 
through  between  them  and  under  an  arch  displaying 
a  motto  of  welcome,  they  joined  in  singing,  “Cling 
to  the  Bible.”  Then  they  all  repeated  a  large  part 
of  Mark  14  in  concert,  and  afterwards  a  boy  of  six¬ 
teen  gave  quite  a  remarkable  address  of  welcome  in 
the  Lunkundo  tongue.  One  is  astonished  at  what 
has  been  done  here  in  a  little  more  than  eighteen 
months.  A  large  tract  of  land  has  been  cleared  from 
the  dense  jungle,  and  a  mud-and-thatch  church,  car¬ 
penter-shop,  and  various  other  small  buildings 
erected,  besides  the  construction  of  an  excellent  mis¬ 
sion  home.  This  latter  was  largely  done  by  Mr. 
C.  P.  Hedges.  The  few  days  and  the  Sunday  spent 
at  Lotumbe  were  cheering  indeed.  It  hardly  seems 
possible  that  in  so  brief  a  time  so  large  a  church, 
giving  every  evidence  of  reverence  and  solidity, 
could  be  built  up.  Many  of  the  candidates  who  were 
baptized  during  our  visit  came  from  a  long  distance. 
Seven  men  who  had  heard  of  the  teaching  in  a  vague 
way  through  others,  walked  and  canoed  ten  days 
from  the  far  headwaters  of  the  Lokolo  River  to  be 
taught  more  perfectly  and  baptized.  The  two  new 
missionaries,  Mr.  Hobgood  and  Mr.  Holder,  remain 
at  Lotumbe  to  hold  the  work,  while  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Smith  come  home  for  a  much-needed  furlough. 


9 


J 


EXPLORING  THE  HIGH  MOMBOYO  RIVER. 

After  spending  some  time  in  conference  over  the 
problems  of  the  work  and  in  planning  for  the  future, 
we  embarked  on  the  Oregon  for  a  week’s  journey 
up  the  high  Momboyo.  Already  evangelists  had  gone 
into  this  far  region,  and  reports  had  come  that  there 
were  people  awaiting  baptism.  We  steamed  over  one 
hundred  miles  up  this  swift  river,  through  the  great 
forest  to  Iyete,  where  evangelists  had  gone  a  year 
before.  There  we  found  a  large  village,  a  populous 
back  country,  and  many  people  deeply  interested  in 
the  gospel.  I  shall  never  forget  the  great  joy  of 
the  two  lonely  evangelists  of  this  far  region  as  they 
welcomed  us.  They  indeed  “leapt  for  joy.”  On 
Saturday,  while  Mr.  Smith  and  the  others  were  ex¬ 
amining  the  candidates  and  planning  for  the  work 
at  Iyete,  Mr.  Eldred  and  I  marched  through  the  for¬ 
est  about  twenty-five  miles  on  a  trip  of  missionary 
exploration.  We  found  a  large  population,  well- 
constructed  villages,  and  a  very  hospitable  and 
kindly  people.  The  people  had  never  seen  a  white 
teacher  before,  and  to  the  most  of  them  the  gospel 
was  entirely  unknown,  yet  they  welcomed  us  and 
asked  for  teachers.  We  returned  to  the  Momboyo 
about  ten  miles  above  Iyete  on  Sunday  morning,  and 
the  paddlers  who  had  come  to  meet  us  took  us  down 
in  a  canoe  to  the  Oregon  again,  which  we  reached  in 
time  to  baptize  the  seventeen  waiting  candidates. 
These  were  the  first  baptisms  in  this  great  new  dis- 

io 


trict,  and  the  communion  service  held  under  the 
trees  near  the  Oregon  was  also  a  revelation  to  the 
people.  One  of  the  reasons  for  our  journey  was  to 
look  out  a  new  place  for  a  future  station.  The  field 
is  great  and  ready  for  the  harvest.  Somewhere  near 
here  we  must  have  a  station  some  day.  God  grant 
it  may  be  soon!  For  hundreds  of  miles  farther  up 
this  river  there  are  multitudes  of  people  who  have 
never  heard  the  faintest  whisper  of  the  gospel. 

THE  MONIEKA  WELCOME. 

After  returning  to  Lotumbe  for  a  day,  we  jour¬ 
neyed  back  to  Longa,  and  then  steamed  up  the  Busira 
a  day  and  a  half  to  Monieka,  our  newest  and  most 
wonderful  station.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Jaggard  accom¬ 
panied  us  to  be  the  first  missionaries  for  these  peo¬ 
ple.  A  great  welcome  awaited  us.  Timothy  Iso,  our 
strongest  evangelist,  has  had  charge  of  this  work 
for  two  years.  It  is  less  than  four  years  since  the 
first  work  was  done  there  by  our  people.  After  we 
had  baptized  the  160  waiting  candidates,  this  new 
church  had  over  six  hundred  members  on  its  roll. 

A  GREAT  WORK  IN  A  GREAT  VILLAGE. 

Monieka  is  one  of  the  largest  villages  I  saw  in 
Africa,  and  is  only  separated  by  a  mile  or  so  from 
another  town  almost  as  large,  called  Longa.  Moni¬ 
eka  has  been  a  famous  town  for  its  warlike  people 
and  chief,  and  not  until  five  years  ago  was  the  State 


ii 


able  to  collect  tax  from  these  people.  Indeed,  it  was 
the  furious  fight  and  defeat  of  a  State  officer  and 
his  solicitors  by  this  town  that  attracted  our  mis¬ 
sionaries  to  it.  From  the  beginning  the  old  chief 
and  his  people  have  been  friendly  to  our  work.  The 
Monieka  people  are  militant  and  enthusiastic  in  their 
Christianity.  I  shall  never  forget  the  wonderful 
welcome  accorded  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Jaggard  and  the  rest 
of  us  as  the  Oregon  landed  at  the  beach.  The  mud 
church  is  one  hundred  feet  long,  and  was  packed 
and  overflowing  at  the  Sunday  services,  and  the  peo¬ 
ple  sit  much  closer  together  in  Africa  than  in  Amer¬ 
ica.  They  have  a  wonderful  way  of  sitting  at  an  edge¬ 
wise  angle  and  packing  in  like  sardines  in  a  box. 

SPYING  OUT  NEW  COUNTRY. 

From  Monieka  we  went  on  the  Oregon  up  the 
high  Busira  River  about  150  miles  beyond  Monieka 
to  spy  out  the  land  for  evangelistic  work  and  a  pos¬ 
sible  future  station.  This  was  an  entirely  new  field, 
far  beyond  where  the  teaching  had  ever  gone.  The 
farther  we  traveled  the  greater  native  population  we 
discovered.  A  marvelous  field  is  open  to  our  people 
far  up  this  river,  even  a  week’s  journey  by  steamer 
beyond  the  point  we  reached.  Everywhere  we  went 
the  teaching  was  welcome.  In  one  large  village  on 
the  river  bank  where  we  stopped  to  teach,  the  crowd 
of  people  and  the  five  assembled  chiefs  all  begged 
that  teachers  be  sent  at  once.  The  chiefs  said  that 
they  would  at  once  begin  to  build  a  house  and  chapel 

12 


for  the  teacher.  I  shall  never  forget  the  sight  of 
that  company  of  heathen  people  standing  on  the 
bank  as  our  steamer  pulled  away,  calling  after  us 
for  a  teacher  as  far  as  we  could  hear. 

We  found  a  great  untouched  region  for  a  new 
station  some  day,  and  without  doubt  a  field  where 
the  history  of  Monieka  could  be  repeated.  The 
people  are  the  most  decidedly  heathen  of  any  we 
saw,  but  friendly  and  willing  to  hear  the  teaching. 
On  beyond  this  point  the  Oregon  can  go  five  or  six 
days  up  the  Busira,  and  then  a  small  boat  can  go 
many  days  further,  and  still  be  within  the  territory 
of  the  Lunkundo-speaking  tribe.  We  are  the  only 
people  who  can  reach  these  needy  natives. 

DOWN  RIVER  AGAIN. 

After  this  journey  we  returned  with  the  Oregon 
to  Monieka,  where  we  spent  a  second  wonderful  Sun¬ 
day,  and  then  left  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Jaggard  in  their 
little  mud  house  to  take  up  that  great  work.  The 
Oregon  then  steamed  down  the  river  to  Longa. 
Twenty-five  miles  from  Longa,  Ray  Eldred  met  us 
with  two  dugout  canoes  and  native  paddlers,  and 
took  me  up  the  little  Bolingo  River  with  the  inten¬ 
tion  of  visiting  an  important  outpost  far  up  this 
stream  and  baptizing  some  waiting  candidates.  After 
a  day’s  paddling  through  the  great  forest,  we  reluc¬ 
tantly  abandoned  the  trip  because  of  low  water  and 
the  multitude  of  fallen  trees  barring  our  progress. 
Brother  Eldred  opened  up  this  Bolingo  work  about 

13 


a  year  ago  and  stationed  evangelists  among  these 
people.  Already  the  work  shows  great  promise,  and 
there  have  been  a  number  of  baptisms.  Paddling 
down  the  Bolingo  and  Busira  on  our  return  journey, 
we  joined  the  Oregon  at  Longa  again,  and  then  pur¬ 
sued  our  way  to  Bolenge. 

IN  THE  MOBANGA  COUNTRY. 

We  left  Bolenge  on  August  20th,  and,  coming 
down  the  Congo  fifty  miles  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Ubanga  River,  we  steamed  a  day’s  journey  up  this 
great  Congo  tributary  to  visit  an  outpost  and  study 
the  field.  Our  evangelist  and  school-teacher  at  the 
town  of  Bobanga  received  us  with  much  joy.  There 
is  a  group  of  twenty  Christians  in  this  town,  and 
we  have  more  evangelists  and  Christians  farther  up 
in  the  interior  of  the  Mobanga  country.  Here  we 
have  another  great  field  which  is  entirely  unoccupied. 
The  Ubanga  is  about  the  size  of  the  Missouri,  and 
for  its  entire  course,  from  far  East,  where  it  rises, 
a  few  miles  from  the  Nile,  to  its  mouth,  there  is  not 
a  Protestant  missionary  and  no  teachers  save  our 
own  little  group  near  the  river’s  mouth.  (Since 
writing  this  there  have  been  nearly  100  baptisms  in 
this  region.) 


GOOD-BYE  TO  CONGO. 

From  the  Ubanga  we  steamed  down  the  Congo 
to  Stanley  Pool,  and  on  August  30th  I  bade  good¬ 
bye  to  the  Oregon  and  its  crew,  including  Captain 

14 


and  Mrs.  Hensey  and  Miss  Eck,  and  took  the  train 
to  Matadi,  to  catch  my  steamer  home. 

Thus  I  have  but  briefly  sketched  the  visit  to 
Congo  and  my  eight  weeks  with  the  steamer  Oregon. 
It  was  no  easy  task  to  say  good-bye  to  the  mission¬ 
aries  as  I  parted  from  them  at  the  various  stations, 
and  finally  left  the  little  group  of  three  on  the  Ore¬ 
gon.  They  had  made  my  journey  so  delightful  and 
had  planned  in  so  many  thoughtful  ways  to  help  me 
to  study  the  people,  the  field,  and  the  stations.  The 
fellowship  had  been  very  sweet,  and  I  had  seen  so 
much  of  their  noble  work,  and  shared  so  in  their 
joys  and  problems  that  to  say  good-bye  was  almost 
like  saying  farewell  to  a  work  of  my  own.  How¬ 
ever,  I  think  the  keenest  pang  I  felt  was  on  say¬ 
ing  farewell  to  the  faithful  native  crew  of  the  Ore¬ 
gon.  I  will  no  doubt  see  the  missionaries  again,  for 
they  are  of  my  own  land  and  race,  but  it  is  not 
probable  that  I  shall  see  again  those  faithful  black 
faces  that  became  so  dear  to  me  during  the  eight 
weeks  on  the  Oregon.  I  can  hear  their  distant  shout 
of  farewell  yet,  as  I  turned  to  wave  at  them  when 
far  up  the  beach  under  the  African  palms. 


15 


OUR  MISSIONARIES  IN  AFRICA. 


BOLENGE. 

A.  F.  Hensey. 

Mrs.  A.  F.  Hensey. 

E.  R.  Moon. 

Mrs.  E.  R.  Moon. 

*R.  S.  Wilson. 

'"Mrs.  R.  S.  Wilson. 

Miss  Edna  V.  Eck. 

Miss  Edith  L.  Apperson. 
Dr.  W.  H.  Fry  mire. 

Miss  Edith  Apperson. 

LONGA. 

R.  Ray  Eldred. 

*  At  home  on  sick  leave. 


Mr.  E.  A.  Johnston. 
Mrs.  E.  A.  Johnston. 

LOTUMBE. 

Herbert  Smith. 

Mrs.  Herbert  Smith. 
C.  P.  Hedges. 

Mrs.  C.  P.  Hedges. 
H.  C.  Hobgood. 

MONIEKA. 

Dr.  L.  F.  Jaggard. 
Mrs.  L.  F.  Jaggard. 
W.  R.  Holder. 


THE  FOREIGN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY, 

BOX  884.  CINCINNATI,  OHIO. 

16 


